Variability of El Niño–Southern Oscillation–related noise in the equatorial Pacific Ocean

2009 ◽  
Vol 114 (D23) ◽  
Author(s):  
Renguang Wu ◽  
Ben P. Kirtman
Keyword(s):  
Pacific Ocean ◽  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
El Niño Southern Oscillation ◽  
El Nino Southern Oscillation ◽  
Equatorial Pacific Ocean

scholarly journals Fokker–Planck dynamics of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Soon-Il An ◽  
Soong-Ki Kim ◽  
Axel Timmermann
Keyword(s):  
El Niño ◽  
El Nino ◽  
Southern Oscillation ◽  
Planck Equation ◽  
Equatorial Pacific ◽  
El Niño Southern Oscillation ◽  
El Nino Southern Oscillation ◽  
Thermocline Depth ◽  
Stationary Mode ◽  
Fokker Planck

Abstract The asymmetric nature of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is explored by using a probabilistic model (PROM) for ENSO. Based on a Fokker–Planck Equation (FPE), PROM describes the dynamics of a nonlinear stochastic ENSO recharge oscillator model for eastern equatorial Pacific temperature anomalies and equatorial Pacific basin-averaged thermocline depth changes. Eigen analyses of PROM provide new insights into the stationary and oscillatory solutions of the stochastic dynamical system. The first probabilistic eigenmode represents a stationary mode, which exhibits the asymmetric features of ENSO, in case deterministic nonlinearities or multiplicative noises are included. The second mode is linked to the oscillatory nature of ENSO and represents a cyclic asymmetric probability distribution, which emerges from the key dynamical processes. Other eigenmodes are associated with the temporal evolution of higher order statistical moments of the ENSO system. The model solutions demonstrate that the deterministic nonlinearity plays a stronger role in establishing the observed asymmetry of ENSO as compared to the multiplicative stochastic part.

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